Example: TikZ and PGF version 2.00

PGF version 2.0 was released on 2008-02-20 after a few months of hectic activity in CVS and on the pgf-users mailing list. The new release is packed with new features
and improvements. In this entry I will give a tour of some of the new features. For a full list of changes see the changelog.

Note: Almost all of the examples are from the TikZ and PGF manual.

Decorations

Decorations are a new and powerful way of decorating and morphing paths. They are similar to the “snakes” from previous versions of PGF, but much more powerful and general. Here are some of the highlights:

The new style and options system is probably the most notable change from previous version. I highly recommend reading Section 11.4.2 in the manual carefully to get an overview. You can find examples of pgfkeys usage sprinkled throughout this entry.

New node shapes

PGF now ships with an impressive variety of node shapes. Here are a few examples:

Coordinate calculations

It is now possible to do some basic calculations on coordinates. The allowed operations are addition, subtraction, scaling, midpoint calculations and projection. To use coordinate calculations you need to load the calclibrary. Here are a few examples:

Shorthand for scope environments. The scopes library defines a shorthand notation for starting and ending scope environments. It allows you to start and end a scope using braces provided the opening brace is followed by options in square brackets:

Thanks to all the contributors. I have been able to use this platform in generating many of my figures.
Thanks again and this is great. To all those who access and contribute to this website, please keep contributing as some one some where is gaining from your expertise!
Regards.
John